Tie Fighters Passing In Front Of The Moon (Side Note: It’s The ISS) Http://scificity.tumblr.com

Leap Day…Why Does It Exist?

Once every four years, an extra calendar day is added: a leap day. But why?

The reason for adding leap days to the calendar is to align the calendar year with the actual year – which is defined by the time it takes Earth to circle the sun. It is equal to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, or 365.24219 days.

If all calendar years contained exactly 365 days, they would drift from the actual year by about 1 day every 4 years. Eventually, July would occur during the northern hemisphere winter! Wouldn’t that be weird?

To correct (approximately), we add 1 day every 4 years…resulting in a leap year.

By making most years 365 days but every fourth year 366 days, the calendar year and the actual year remain more nearly in step.

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German Extr@

I started watching this educational sitcom in German a few months ago, and it’s really great. I mean, it’s no cult classic like Treffpunkt Berlin or anything, but it’s still pretty cool. It’s called “Extr@,” and it’s about this (secretly) wealthy American guy named Sam who moves in with his middle school pen pal Sascha in Berlin and her roommate, Anna. He also meets their aspiring actor neighbor Nic who despite acting all cool, turns out not to be. The language barrier is an important plot device. The romance is all wonky. Nic’s in love with Sascha, who’s in love with Sam, who’s in love with Anna, who’s in love with Nic. Yeah. Confusing. But nevertheless, it’s a pretty cool show.

It’s true, our mere existence is a miracle. 

Approaching Pluto Date: 13 Jul 2015

One of the final sequence of images before closest approach to Pluto.

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

NASA’S NEW SPACE TOURISM POSTERS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD

Darrell Sweet cover art for a 1978 edition of Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein.

I call this one "Terraluna."

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.

Captain Benjamin L. Willard

I want to say that the Gemini astronaut in the foreground is either Gene Cernan or Ed White, but don't quote me on that.